I am aware of the news and social media reports that Chucklefish allegedly engaged in unfair and potentially abusive labor practices during development of their game, Starbound. I feel the need to address this situation because the connection between Chucklefish and Stardew Valley, as well as the degree to which Chucklefish was involved in the creation of the game, has been a source of confusion for many people . So I’d like to clarify a couple of things.

Throughout the 4.5 years of development, I was the only person to work on Stardew Valley. Neither Chucklefish nor any contributors working with Chucklefish were involved in creating the game, in any capacity.

For the multiplayer update, which came out on PC 2.5 years after the game first launched, a Chucklefish employee did create the multiplayer net-code, but that was the only case where Chucklefish was directly involved in development of the game.

Beyond that, Chucklefish has served only as publisher, which means that they handled the business and marketing side of things, as well as contracting the localizations, console & mobile ports to 3rd-party companies. Since December of last year, I’ve moved to self-publishing on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4, Xbox, and PSVita… Chucklefish is no longer publishing the game on those platforms.
I can also say that, both personally and in my capacity as the recent founder of a small team, I believe in compensating developers for their contributions in working on games.

I also want to let the Xbox/PS4 players know that the multiplayer update is coming along well… the XBOX update is in QA, and PS4 will follow shortly. I hope to release both, simultaneously, within the next couple of months.

I’ll let you know as soon as I have anything more concrete to share with you. Thanks so much for your patience.

Update: The new languages are now live on Steam/GOG. Thanks to everyone who helped me test out the beta.

The Steam beta for French, Turkish, Italian, Hungarian, and Korean is here. If you speak any of those languages, and want to help me find bugs, typos, or even just give feedback on the new text, it would be a big favor and I’d really appreciate it!

To access the current beta version of Stardew Valley (on Steam):

Right click on Stardew Valley in your games library and select “Properties”

Click the “Betas” tab

Click the drop down menu and select “beta” (no password is necessary)

Steam will download the beta version. Stardew Valley should now have a [beta] tag in your library.

While it’s very unlikely that playing the beta version will threaten your save files, I recommend backing them up anyway. Your save files can be found in the “%appdata%/StardewValley/Saves” folder (on PC).

I mentioned in my last post that I’ll be forming a small team to help me continue expanding and maintaining Stardew Valley. Links to the official job postings can be found below, and I’ll update them with the new ones when they’re available:

A few weeks ago I announced that I’ll be self-publishing Stardew Valley on most platforms (everywhere except Nintendo Switch and mobile). Today, that transition takes effect.

So, as of today, for PC, Mac, Linux, XBox One, Playstation 4, and PS Vita, if you have any questions, comments, or business inquiries, please send them directly to me. I now bear 100% of the responsibility for these platforms!

Now, I’d like to tell you guys what I’m up to, and what’s in store for the future of Stardew Valley.

As many of you know, I’ve been working on a new game for a while. I haven’t revealed anything about it, except that it takes place in the same universe as Stardew Valley. I’ve been deliberately secretive about it because I want to be able to work on it without any pressure for the time being. I also want to make sure the concept is fully realized before revealing anything, because once it’s out there, I’m going to have to fully commit to it. I’m a pretty cautious person when it comes to this sort of thing.

Now, I believe I’ve said in the past that I wanted to devote all my time to the new game, and I might not work on any new Stardew Valley content. Well, that’s not exactly true. While there have been times in the past where I felt burnt out, and maybe even said that I wanted to move on, I always find myself coming back to Stardew Valley. For one, I keep getting new ideas for ways to improve and expand upon the game. This world is so full of potential, I could probably work on it for the rest of my life. There’s also such a wonderful community surrounding the game… and I like making you guys happy. I’m extremely grateful to all of you for supporting my work and creating this wonderful Stardew Valley community. I wouldn’t be where I am today without you. And knowing that there’s still tons of people out there who love the game and would be extremely happy to get new content motivates me to keep working.

In short, what I’m saying is that I am going to keep making new content for Stardew Valley. In fact, I’ve recently put my other game on the back-burner and have been in the process of creating a new free content update.

French, Korean, Italian, and Turkish translations are also underway, though they may not come out until early next year.

I’m aware that saying “I’m working on new content” might be aggravating to those on consoles who don’t have the 1.3 update yet… Or to those on Switch who are experiencing frame rate issues in the new patch. I also haven’t forgotten about the PS Vita users, some of whom have reported bugs to me. It’s very important to me that I make good on my promises… the idea of expanding further while there are still lingering issues and unmet promises disturbs me, and isn’t something I want to be doing.

So I want to make it clear that these issues are my top priority, and if there’s ever anything I can do to help these things happen more quickly, it takes precedence over any new content… however, I don’t do those ports myself, they are done by Sickhead Games, so there’s nothing I can personally do to have an effect on that process, beyond setting it into motion (Sickhead Games does great work, by the way… and they are making very fast progress on the console updates). I am also doing what I can to see the issues with Switch multiplayer get fixed, but that is also not something I can directly accomplish. So when I do work on new content, it’s only when I have no current avenue for addressing these higher priority issues.

So, currently I’m working on a new Stardew Valley update, and my new game is on hold for the time being. The difficult thing is that I want to work on both… I want to keep working on Stardew Valley and I also want to work on my new game. But I don’t have enough time to accomplish my goals with both things simultaneously. For a while, I considered being finished with Stardew Valley altogether. But that would make me (and many others) sad. So I’ve decided that I’m going to form a team to help me work on future Stardew Valley content. The update I’m working on right now (1.4) will be another solo update, but after that I hope to have a team in place that I can work closely with on future content.

This is going to be a big change for me… I’ve always worked alone, and working with a team is a whole new ballgame. However, just as I did with Stardew Valley originally, I’m just gonna go for it, and have faith that I can rise to the occasion and make it work. My hope is that the new team will help take some of the workload off me, so I have enough breathing room to divide my time between my new game and Stardew Valley. I still plan on having a very active role in the future of Stardew Valley, and the originator of all major Stardew Valley decisions and content. And there are many aspects of development which I’ll never be okay with handing over to another, like music or writing. But when it comes to programming, fixing bugs, administrative/business work, or even pixel art… I think I’d be okay with having some help. I’ll post more about this later.

This is a lot of new info, so here’s a summary:

My top priority is to see the 1.3 multiplayer update come to Xbox One & Playstation 4, and for issues with the Switch patch to be addressed.

I am working on a new game, but I’ve put it on hold in order to create a new Stardew Valley update (1.4).

French, Korean, Italian, and Turkish translations are in the works, though they may not come out until early next year.

I plan on forming a team to help me work on new Stardew Valley content (beyond 1.4)

Once the team is in place, I’ll divide my time between Stardew Valley and my new game.

I am now self-publishing on all platforms except Nintendo Switch and mobile.

I’m happy to announce that the 1.3 Multiplayer Update will be coming to Nintendo Switch this week,

on Wednesday the 12th of December.

It will be available across the North American, European, and Japanese Nintendo eShop regions.

A big thanks goes out to Tom Coxon from Chucklefish, who developed the multiplayer netcode which made this update possible. Also, a big thanks to Sickhead Games for porting it to Nintendo Switch!

I know that many of you have been looking forward to this update, so here’s a quick reminder of what you can expect:

Support for up to 4-player online co-op.
You can invite 1-3 friends to join you in the valley, either starting from scratch or diving in from an existing single player save. Each player will have their own Cabin on the farm, and you’ll be able to work together to achieve common goals such as farming, mining, fishing, foraging and festival participation!

The state of the Stardew Valley game world, including the main storyline, is shared between all players on the farm, as well as the pool of money you accumulate. However, each player will have their own private inventories, skills, achievements, collections, individual relationships, quests, and crafting/cooking recipes. As more hands are better than one, you may wish to change the difficulty level of your collective farm, which you can achieve by scaling the profit margins.In terms of marriage, players can choose to woo the eligible folks of Pelican Town, or craft a wedding ring to propose to a fellow player. If the other player accepts the ring, the couple becomes engaged!

Nintendo Switch features:

On Nintendo Switch you’ll be able to communicate with others on your farm using the Switch online voice chat or the new chat box feature with colored text and nearly 200 custom Stardew Valley emojis.

You can also play together via local communications play, meaning that 2-4 switch consoles can connect & play together over a short distance without the need for a Nintendo Switch Online account.

Single Player Content:

While the new 1.3 single player content has now been available on PC for a little while now, I’ll keep things vague to avoid spoilers for anyone who hasn’t come across them yet.

For 3 days in Winter you’ll be able to visit a traveling festival called the Night Market, which will visit Pelican Town. Here farmers can come and go as they please to purchase unique items, enjoy live entertainment and more!

There are now new character events to encounter, including some secret events triggered by certain conditions… Some of these even grant you permanent bonuses.

In Winter, farmers may encounter a strange event which activates a new ‘secret’ type of collection, leading to a new adventure and greater knowledge…

Your horse can now wear hats and Signs are now craftable items, available to you from the beginning of the game.

Much more to be discovered!

Next up is the PS4 and Xbox One Multiplayer updates, which is my top priority. I’m working with Sickhead Games to get these to you as soon as possible… I really appreciate your patience.

After the Switch update has launched, I’ll have more to share with you very soon…

Starting December 14th, I’ll begin self-publishing Stardew Valley on PC, XBOX, PS4, and PSVITA. On those platforms, I (ConcernedApe) will be both publisher and developer. However, Chucklefish will remain publisher on Nintendo Switch and Mobile platforms.

When I first released Stardew Valley, I was a complete novice to the video game industry. Chucklefish, as my publisher, oversaw the distribution, console ports and translations of the game. They set up the official wiki and helped me redesign the website, to great effect. And of course,Tom Coxon did amazing work adding network code to the game, making multiplayer a reality.

But I’m at a point now where I’m ready to move forward on my own. I think self-publishing is the dream of most indie developers, and I’m happy to be in a place where that’s possible!

Expect some more announcements concerning the future of Stardew Valley soon… stay tuned!

-Ape

***

From Chucklefish:

We are proud to be part of the Stardew Valley story and wish ConcernedApe every success with his new self-publishing venture. We will carry on working closely together and are particularly excited to be continuing to publish the versions of Stardew Valley for Nintendo Switch and Mobile, including the upcoming Switch Multiplayer update (in submission now) and new Android version which we know many of you are looking forward to! – Chucklefish

I hope you’ve all had a great summer and are enjoying this transition to the cooler weather of fall.

Today, I’ve got some exciting news to share with everyone – Stardew Valley is coming to mobile, and it’s actually releasing on the iOS App Store in just over 2 weeks time, on October 24th!

The mobile port is being developed by London-based mobile development studio, The Secret Police, who have been working with me for about a year. Chucklefish has been handling the business and marketing side of things. While the game will launch first on the iOS App Store, The Secret Police are currently working on finishing up the Android version, and I hope to give you more news about an exact launch date soon.

Features:

Supports iPhone and iPad gaming, just make sure to check on the App Store page whether the game is compatible with your iOS version

It’s the full game, not a cut down version, and plays almost identically to all other versions. The main difference is that it has been rebuilt for touch-screen gameplay on iOS (new UI, menu systems and controls)

£7.99 / $7.99 / 8,99 € with no in-app purchases

Includes 1.3 single player content, such as the Night Market, but not Multiplayer

PC players can transfer their save data to the iOS version via iTunes – but make sure to always back up your save data first! Mods are not supported, and any save data transferred containing mods may cause compatibility issues.

Pre-orders are available today

I want to be sure it is clear that the development of the mobile port has had no impact on the development of the console Multiplayer ports, as they are being worked on by two entirely separate teams/companies. Console multiplayer is making great progress and I have every intention to release it as quickly as possible. For a quick update on where it’s at, the Switch Multiplayer update is coming along well, and has now gone into QA (quality assurance testing). Xbox One and PS4 Multiplayer updates will follow (all being done by Sickhead Games). I promise to keep you all updated on any news I get regarding release time frames for all the consoles. I really appreciate everyone’s patience.